Alternative to Alesis AI-3?

Hey guys, this is my first post, and i would just like to commend recording.org and its staff for being an awesome resource all round....thanks again.

Anyways on to my question....i just recently bought a digidesign 002rack and a digidesign control 24. As you already probably know the 002rack only supports 8 channels of analog audio input......but it also supports 8 more channels though its adat lightpipe. i have been doing some research and i have stumbled across the Alesis AI-3 analog to lightpipe converter. i have read up on this piece of equipment, and have found that some ppl are less then happy with its performance, so i was just wondering if you guys had some recommendations or other options in mind.......any help will be appriciated.....thanks again

Depends on what features you want and how much you are prepared to spend. At the bottom end (for much less money than the AI-3) is the Behringer ADA8000, and you get passable microphone pre-amps built-in. A bit up in price is the Creamware A16 Ultra. This box has got a good name, has 16 channels (2 ADAT ports) or can run at 96KHz on 8 channels, but it takes high-level inputs only (like the AI-3). If you want to spend more money than this in the hope of getting higher quality, there are several ways to go. I suggest you come back with a budget and we can make further suggestions.

I replaced my AI-3 with Apogee's Rosetta 800 and I think it's great. I monitor through it, use it as word clock master, and you can also cal it to your outboard gear with a factory mod. All in all a very nice piece.

Depends on what features you want and how much you are prepared to spend. At the bottom end (for much less money than the AI-3) is the Behringer ADA8000, and you get passable microphone pre-amps built-in. A bit up in price is the Creamware A16 Ultra. This box has got a good name, has 16 channels (2 ADAT ports) or can run at 96KHz on 8 channels, but it takes high-level inputs only (like the AI-3). If you want to spend more money than this in the hope of getting higher quality, there are several ways to go. I suggest you come back with a budget and we can make further suggestions.

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I'm not sure those ada8000's have bypassable mic pre's. I own one and from everything I've read and everything everyone's told me the pre's cannot be bypassed. You can turn the gain down for less of the signature Behri sound but you can't bypass the pre's.

I'm not sure those ada8000's have bypassable mic pre's. I own one and from everything I've read and everything everyone's told me the pre's cannot be bypassed. You can turn the gain down for less of the signature Behri sound but you can't bypass the pre's.

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Using the "line in" 1/4" plugs bypasses the preamps, to the ADAT port out.
Using the ADAT in, analog audio come out of the XLRs out in the back, with no path through the preamps.
The ADA8000 uses Alesis enc/dec chips, they have no other choice as Alesis owns the patent!!!!!

I'm using the ADAT out of my PT192 HD to the ADA8000, to my monitor section.

Yes, the ADA8000 has line ins on 1/4" TRS jacks and these bypass the microphone pre-amps.

The ADA8000 is one of the better items of Behringer gear for the money, but one trick they missed is a switch to loop the ADAT outs electronically back to the ADAT ins so it could be used as an analog pre-amp. You can do this using an optical cable, but not if you want to use the optical out for feeding a mixer or hard disk recorder.

I'd like to use it to give 8 more inputs into my 896, but I would also like to zero latency monitor with it. I got the idea to use this: here

Send one out to the 896, the other back into the ADA8000. I feel that I am missing something though. Has anyone tried this? It would make the Behringer a lot more attractive.

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Yes, you can do this, although I have never used the Dayton device. You have to check that an optical splitter box designed for S/PDIF does not attenuate the optical signals so much that the receivers can't get enough signal, as they are already working at their limits at the 13Mbps ADAT bit rate.

See my earlier post about increasing the usefulness of the ADA8000:

The ADA8000 is one of the better items of Behringer gear for the money, but one trick they missed is a switch to loop the ADAT outs electronically back to the ADAT ins so it could be used as an analog pre-amp. You can do this using an optical cable, but not if you want to use the optical out for feeding a mixer or hard disk recorder.